What you need to know
- Google’s I/O 2026 teaser is live, and users can begin playing with its puzzles to reveal the event’s date.
- There are five puzzles: Hole in One, Nonogram, Word Wheel, Supersonic Bot, and Stretchy Cat, which all leverage Gemini 3 in one way or another.
- Google’s 2025 event puzzle had “Prism Shift,” and users quickly sped through that, revealing the date in just a day.
Update
(Update: 2/17 4:08 pm ET): The date’s been revealed, as users rushed to complete the puzzles Google set up for its I/O 2026 event. Users can expect the event to take place on May 19-20. The company posted its official announcement, too, stating the event will be hosted at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.
Google teases that consumers will get insights into Gemini, Android, and more.
The original article can be read below.
Google is already dropping its preparations for its I/O 2026 conference in mid-February, as a set of puzzles is here, asking the user to help reveal the date.
This morning (Feb 17), Google published its official I/O 2026 page, which, for right now, is all about puzzles before the finish line. The company leads with the tagline: “Make, Build, Unlock,” to start hyping up users. Google says users must “play through all builds to unlock the final bonus. Every play gets you closer to unlocking the Google I/O date.” This is pretty standard business around here for Google, so there’s nothing crazy (yet).
After getting started, users are taken to the five puzzles/games they’ll have to play to reveal the I/O date this year.
The five games are: Hole in One, Nonogram (endless board games), Word Wheel, Supersonic Bot (your mic controls the bot’s altitude), and Stretchy Cat. While the first game is pretty self-explanatory, Google explains that every game leverages Gemini’s AI capabilities in one way or another.
For Word Wheel, Gemini 3 comes in to “automate level design, ensuring every puzzle is balanced and enjoyable.” The AI’s presence in Stretchy Cat is similar; however, it also adds an “endless” mode similar to Nonogram. At the time of writing, the community has just passed the first node in the progress bar. In short, we’re one-fourth of the way to revealing the I/O 2026 conference date.
Work your brain, find the date
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Google tries to mix up its games every year, and sometimes the puzzles are relatively tame. Last year, around this time in February, Google dropped its “Prism Shift” game for users to play to reveal the 2025 event date. As its name kind of suggests, users were required to shift around mirrors and nodes to bounce light beams and connect each section. “All nodes” needed to be lit in order to progress.
It was a nice game that really had you focusing on ensuring the lights bounced properly to light everything up. Funny thing is, this game might’ve been too easy for users, as they finished it and revealed the date in a day. I/O 2025 was set for May 20 and 21. Perhaps, we’re looking at a similar timeline this year, too, as Google usually holds its conference in May.
Android Central’s Take
I’m not one to brag, but I got a hole in one my first try (let’s not mention that it was the first course, okay?). These puzzles are always nice to play around with. This year, there’s a lot of emphasis on Gemini, specifically Gemini 3. Google seems really proud of its latest AI model and is touting its advancements with these games, as well as a “Remix” option on its I/O 2026 page. We’re probably in for a truckload of AI and Gemini during I/O 2026 this year, and maybe even some Pixel teasers, too. Better buckle up.
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